Harry From The Future
by Invisiblegirl3
Summary: In a bit of an AU situation, Harry uses a time turner to go back and save his parents from dying. But he ends up too far back, and gets stuck in the Hogwarts of the 1970s  alongside his teenage parents. Can he get home without altering the time stream, and possibly give Lily and James the nudge they need to finally end up together? (I'm not Rowling, nor do I own Back To The Future)
1. Chapter 1

_Hogwarts, June of 1994_

"HERMIONE?- I`m telling you Harry, girls take ages to pack- COME ON, WE`RE STARVING."

"IN A MINUTE, RONALD!" She shouted down the hall. "Honestly. Boys and their stomachs. Some people like to put things away neatly."

Four trunks were lined up by the door, packed up by the slave labor of house elves that didn`t seem to bother Hermione`s ignorant roommates. Unfortunately, in her attempt to take a stand for civil liberties and elfish equality, Hermione had not taken into account the time it would take to pack unaided, which is why her little corner of the room was currently in a state of controlled chaos, piles everywhere.

As soon as she got home, Hermione resolved, she was going to get herself a proper alarm clock. Dead batteries were not going create problems like this for her again.

"JUST MAGIC IT ALL UP AND COME EAT!"

"BUT THEN I WON`T KNOW WHERE ANYTHING IS!"

Sighing, Hermione supposed she might have to resort to barbaric measures. After all, she still had to go down and meet with Professor McGonagall about her classes. Determined, she plucked the wand off her nightstand. "GO TO BREAKFAST WITHOUT ME, I`LL MEET YOU DOWN THERE."

They didn`t need to be told twice, apparently, and left without another word. Hermione, in a way that made her feel very Mary Poppins, set to charming all the books to fly furiously into her trunk, followed by all of the piles of scrap parchment and leftovers of another successful scholarly year of magic. It made a horrible clatter that she normally wouldn`t have stood for, but as she was running short on time, there was nothing to be done about it. As soon as the last quill was immobile, she snapped the lid shut and dashed down the stairs.

Halfway to Professor McGonagall`s office, Hermione realized she`d forgotten to grab the time turner from atop her "Academic Resources" pile. By the time she ran all the way back to her dorm, the trunks were gone.

When she arrived in the Professor`s office, her hair was twice its usual enormity, and tears hung from the corners of her eyes.

"Professor, I have to hand my time turner in. I`ve decided to drop Muggle Studies. I know it`s a big responsibility and all, but I don`t think I can handle taking all those classes again."

McGonagall was aghast. "Of course you can drop classes. You did manage for an extraordinary long time, and maintained good grades throughout. Naturally, you can pick up classes again if you please later on, but I agree that for now, this might be for the best."

"Thank you…the only problem is, Professor, I haven`t got the time turner with me. It`s in my trunk, which has already-"

"I`m sure you`re responsible enough to owl it back to the school when you find it, Miss Granger?"

Hermione brightened, wiping her eyes. "Yes, Professor."

"Good. Now, I`d suggest you hurry down to breakfast, before Weasley eats your share of eggs."

* * *

_Hogwarts, June of 1996_

"Are you sure you don`t want me to help you look for your stuff?" Harry asked again, not feeling quite as alone as he had just a few moments ago.

Luna smiled, but shook her head, eyes looking past him. Harry wondered if the reason she had that dreamy expression all the time was because she was trying to look past this world and to the one beyond, through the veil.

"Oh no… No, I think I`ll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up….It always does in the end…. Well, have a nice holiday, Harry."

"Yeah… yeah, you too."

After watching Luna go and feeling oddly less weighted down, Harry continued to wander around Hogwarts. He walked for hours, through every secret passaged in the school, just in case the ghost of his godfather did happen to appear. Finally, though, after circumnavigating the Hogwartizan halls thrice over, Harry began to accept the fact that Nick might be right; Sirius had gone on.

It was just as Harry was making his way back up to the Gryffindor Tower when he bumped into a very exhausted-looking Hermione.

"Harry!" She greeted softly, "We were wondering where you`d gone. You missed the feast."

"Yeah, I suppose I did."

"Look, Harry…" He could tell she wanted to talk about Sirius. It was right there, grief and concern hidden quite badly in her expression. "Would you mind giving something to Professor McGonagall for me?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, I found it a few weeks ago, been meaning to give it back, but she was in the hospital and all… it`s the time turner we saved Buckbeak with in third year. I could never find it to give it back, but when I was trying to look for Arithmancy note in the bottom of my trunk; I found it tangled on an old S.P.E.W. badge. Anyway…" She gently handed it over. "I figured the Ministry would really need it back now, since all the others got smashed in the battle."

"Yeah," Harry nodded, deep in thought. "See you later, Hermione."

"Alright." She wavered for a moment, as if she could not quite pin down her thoughts. "Goodnight Harry."

As he watched his friend go, Harry though of what Luna had said to him earlier, about things turning up in the end. The last time turner was in his hand, and maybe there was a reason Hermione had happened to remember it now. Maybe Harry was meant to use it.

He could save Sirius.

He could save Cedric.

He could save his parents.

So instead of heading straight to McGonagall`s office and handing over the key to his past, Harry sat down in the secret passage behind the one-eyed witch, and began to flip the hourglass.

It was an awful lot of hours, an awful lot of turns, since 1981. But Harry was not going to give up. Not on his godfather, and not on his parents.

A little after five the next morning, despite his best efforts, Harry finally slipped out of consciousness, glasses askew, and fell asleep somewhere around the 200,000th turn of the little hourglass.


	2. Chapter 2

When he eventually came to, Harry adjusted his glasses in the haze that accompanies waking up in a place that is not your own bed. The time turner he had fallen asleep grasping jolted him back to reality, and his mission. His parents and godfather`s lives depended on him.

Standing up fast, he quickly exited the secret passage, still a bit dizzy and dazed, but certain of one thing…

Actually, Harry realize, stopping short, he had absolutely no idea when he was. Exactly how many times had he spun the hourglass? Pulling out the time turner, he tried to look at the amount of sand in each of the bulbs, hoping for any sort of clue.

"Ooph!"

Something collided with Harry from behind, sending him flying strait to the floor below. Despite being still terribly disorientated from waking up in Merlin knows what year, he managed to catch himself, and his seeker instincts kicked in just in time to catch the time turner before it could shatter on the stone floor.

"Whoops, sorry. Hey, nice catch Potter."

The world set back into focus as Harry righted his glasses, his gaze settling on the playfully troublesome smile of the accidental assailant. From the ground, she looked vaguely celestial, what with the hands on hips and an aura of undoubtable strength about her, even despite the ponytail barely containing her mane of black hair. Harry was fairly certain he`d never seen her before in his life, which he supposed was a decent indicator that at least he could be pretty sure of at least one thing: he wasn`t in 1996 anymore.

But then why had she called him Potter?

As Harry`s brain was still waking up and processing the last few minutes, the angelic Asian`s eyebrows were slowly descending, and a frown began to form. She would not stop staring at his eyes (except for the occasional flicker of a glance to his hair), and it was vastly unnerving.

"Wait…Who are you?"

Harry could tell his expression was probably as confused and shocked as hers, and as the question hung in the air, he knew he had to answer fast, before she started to wonder how he had popped out of the wall.

"Er… Harry. You?"

She blinked once, as if processing this in the briefest of moments, then reached an arm down to help him up. "Mattie Bell, and…" Mattie`s eyes flicked to the windows, "…extremely late for Quiddich tryouts."

Harry smiled at the familiar hint of anticipation in her expression, the mark of a Quiddich player ready to take flight. It had been ages since he`d been on a broom, not since Umbridge had locked up his Firebolt…

Mostly out of nostalgia, he asked, "What are the tryouts for?"

"Well, it`s supposed to be for a new seeker, but they`re all bloody awful, so it might just end up being for a chaser instead, and our captain will be bumped to seeker."

"How do you know they`re awful? You haven`t even gotten to the pitch yet!" Harry questioned skeptically.

Mattie smirked sorrowfully. "Oh, the team`s been dreading this since our old seeker left for the Auror Academy. In the past week alone, those perspective seekers have lost seven snitches trying to practice for tryouts."

"Well, I hope at least your captain is able to make a decent catch."

"He`s alright considering he`s a chaser, but he`d never be able to make a catch like…"

Something changed in her eyes, and her clouded expression became super focused. Matilda turned to him with a rash-like impish grin.

"You fly, right? You do, I can tell by the way you were looking at the pitch…" She drifted off, gaze catching on his tie. "Gryffindor! A saving grace! Is there any chance you could repeat the catch from earlier, when I ran into you, in the air?"

Great, first she knocked him to the ground like a sack of potatoes, and now she was trying to recruit him. Harry wondered if it was too late into the conversation to oblivate her and get back to saving Sirius and his parents. But as dedicated as he was to his mission, it appeared Mattie was equally determined.

"That was a brilliant catch. You`re exactly what the team needs. Please come down there with me, I`m willing to bet fifty galleons you`ll get the spot as soon as the team sees you in action."

Shouts drifted up from the pitch, and Harry looked longingly at the speeding figures. It had been ages since he`d touched a broom, let alone been invited to play….

"I can`t." He said finally. "You don`t understand…"

Mattie scoffed, and challenged him. "Come on, it`s 1976. Humor me with what you think I can`t comprehend, mate"

1976! 1976… he`d gone back twenty years…surely there was enough time to save his parents and Sirius, and play some quiddich along the way. And it wasn`t like he was actually going to be staying and filling the seeker position, he still was going to find Dumbledore and his parents and warn them of things to come, but it wouldn`t hurt to go down there and cheer up this hopeless team.

"I haven`t got a broom."

Mattie broke out into what Harry was starting to recognize as a trademark devilish grin. "Oh, that`s an easy fix."

He had been drastically mistaken at first glance: she wasn`t angelic, far from it. If their first few minutes of conversation were anything to go on, Mattie Bell was anything but.

* * *

On the way down to the pitch, Harry ran through all the possible ways he could explain his situation to Dumbledore in a way that would make him seem, well, not crazy. The prophesy Neville had smashed in the Department of Mysteries was less than fifteen years old, so that was, quite literally, a bust. Everything Harry knew about the past was yet to come, or was easily readable off of a chocolate frog card. So how could he get his warn….Madame Prince had black hair?

Harry forced himself to stop staring at the absence of silver and pretend, at least for the sake of the bystanders from the past, that he hadn`t just dropped in from Mars. Wait, had that tapestry always been there?

"Over here." Mattie directed, as if he didn`t already know the way by heart. "Hey, so Harry, have I seen you around here before? You look awfully familiar."

"No, I`m fairly sure I`ve never seen you in the past." Harry replied, acutely aware of the double meaning in his words.

"Hmm." She crinkled her eyes thoughtfully, but shrugged and tugged him into the locker room. "I could have sworn… your eyes. But I guess it just must be that your hair reminds me of a friend of mine."

Once in the locker room, Mattie set about digging through an overstuffed locker, carelessly chucking unwanted garments every which way.

"Hold this." She instructed, lugging a beater`s bat into his arms.

"You`re a beater?"

"Ha! No, but could you imagine…?" Harry caught a pair of scarlet robes haphazardly thrown his way, fumbling with the bat until she relieved him of the burden and stuffed it in the locker. "Nah, I`m a chaser. But since our beater is in detention for setting fire to some Slytherin`s hair, he won`t be needing his robes and broom today."

Harry started to change, but froze when he noticed the large block letters adorning the back of the robes.

BLACK.

There had only been one member of the house of Black ever to wear scarlet and gold. What were the odds that Harry would end up accidently wearing the uniform of the very man he`d been trying to save?

Greif hit him like a bludger to the ribcage.

Hands shaking, Harry lifted the robes on over his head, trying not to cry out as he saw the laughing face of his godfather disappear into the veil. He would save him this time. He would save them all.

"Ready?" Luckily, Harry managed to look up and pull himself out of his thoughts in time to catch the broom that was chucked at his head. Straightening the slightly too-big uniform, he managed a smiled.

"I think so."

On the far end of the field, groups of perspective seekers were lining up to get their chance to show what their skills, catching as many balls that the people in scarlet robes, Mattie`s teammates, threw their way. The stands were pretty crowded for tryouts, considering how wobbly and unrefined the flying of most applicants was. A large group of Slytherins hung like a smog cloud by the front of the stands, leering and criticizing in a way that made Harry`s blood boil, "Weasley Is Our King" almost paling in comparison to some of the comments hurled at the team.

"Perkins, how`s your mum? Heard she was at the raid earlier this week, you know, the one that sent seven Aurors to St. Mungo's? With any luck, she`s been hexed into reassessing her loyalties."

One of the scarlet robed girls froze, a glint of tears forming in her eyes. Mattie`s grip on her broom solidified, but across the pitch, someone was already coming to the sobbing girl`s defense.

"Sod off, Mulciber, you dark arts loving twat, or your I.Q. won`t be the only thing that`s the size of a pixie."

The defending speaker, who had been circling the field from the air, landed a few feet away from them, eyes never leaving the stands as he messed up his hair. It had been only a few months since Harry had seen his father in Snape`s memory, but evidently that had been longer for James, who was now several inches taller, meeting Harry`s height exactly. "Didn`t I specifically ask you to come early, Bell?"

"Yeah I know, sorry." Mattie said, not bothering with excuses. "Is it as bad as we thought?"

James signed, running a frustrated had through his hair. "I`ve got to say, things are not looking good for the cup this year. Some of these kids would be stellar catchers, the ones that can fly, anyway… but there`s not a single one who has an ounce of consistent coordination when it comes to a real snitch. Thanks to this bunch, we haven`t even got any practice ones left, only golf balls."

In the stands, the Slytherins were getting louder. "Oi, that mudblood can`t even fly straight! I knew Gryffindor was bad, but I didn`t know they were this desperate! What do you say, Avery, maybe he`ll reconsider trying out after we show him how real magic`s done."

"A good crucio ought to do it, I think."

Before any of the Quiddich players, all of whom were just about ready to curse the offending Slytherin into next month, could move an inch, a girl stood up from farther back in the stands, much to the evident protests of her friends.

"Detention, Rodolphus, and fifty points from Slytherin."

Rodolphus sneered. "Oh, little Mudblood Evans is going all perfect prefect on me, how very noble of her. Still spiteful your precious Severus decided to join the cause?"

"Use that word again and I`ll make sure you`ll be too incapacitated for You-Know-Who to even think about needing your help." James seethed, Mattie not bothering to hold him back.

"I`ve got this under control, thank you very much, Potter." Lily called back, voice tainted with just as much poison as she`d used on the Slytherins, if not colder. Turning back to Mattie and Harry, James` face was a mask of controlled rage.

Obviously used to this sort of thing and hoping to divert James` anger, Mattie elbowed Harry forward, sacrificial lamb style. "Black wanted me to tell you that he`s got detention again this morning for that stunt with Filch and the portraits, but I found someone in his place who I think you might be interested in."

Harry froze as his father looked him over, equally wishing for James to recognize him and at the same time knowing that there could be sever, paradoxical repercussions if his father was to ever find out the truth.

"Well, you`re certainly as scruffy as Black, that`s for sure." James declared finally, and Mattie rolled her eyes, mumbling something that sounded like 'look in a mirror much?', but thankfully the Quiddich captain was too preoccupied to pay her any attention. "Ever played as a seeker before?"

"A bit." Said the youngest Quiddich player in a century, lying to his father`s face.

"Then let`s see what you`ve got."

Anxiety bubbled up inside Harry as he mounted his broom, hyperaware of every eye in the stadium turning to him, the newcomer. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, channeling the carefree ease of a Weasley pickup Quiddich game. Without a Firebolt, he was relying on pure talent. Flashing back to a jibe Hermione had once thrown at Malfoy, he smiled, remembering that`s what had gotten him on the team in the first place.

Eyes flying open, Harry kicked off and shot up into the air.

The thrill was incredible, adrenaline flowing through his veils like Felix Felicis. If only Umbridge could see him now.

Speeding around the field as fast as he could, Harry weaved the rings for good measure before diving, then pulling up into a hover several feet in front of his dad. James was having trouble keeping a straight face, reminding Harry of Oliver Wood the first time Harry had met him.

"Lin," He shouted, "Throw that kid some practice balls."

The other members of the Gryffindor Quiddich Team resumed their drills with the other applicants, but Harry caught some of them watching him out of the corners of their eyes. Mattie had gone over to join them, but not before giving Harry two proud thumbs up.

One by one, he caught the golf balls with ease, fighting the urge to look up at James, who was circling above. The girl, Linda, seemed to be glad to have an excuse to throw something as hard and as far as possible, and Harry didn`t blame her, remembering how those Slytherins had been targeting her earlier.

Eventually, James blew a whistle. "Everyone circle up!"

After being divided into two teams, evenly stocked skill wise, James called for the game balls to be released, including the only remaining snitch. For the scrimmage, Harry had been paired against the younger brother of the Gryffindor team`s keeper, the small but speedy kid that James had mentioned earlier.

For the first few minutes of the game, the snitch was nowhere to be seen, so Harry was free to circle above in the habitual way he`d technically never done before, observing the game and people below. James, who was supposed to be acting as a referee while assessing potential seekers, had instead taken to gazing off towards the risers, where, sure enough, Lily was chatting with Remus and some girls. It was so surreal, Harry almost forgot he wasn`t in a memory again, and forced himself to keep a part of his brain on alert for the snitch.

As if on cue, there was a rocketing glint flickering through his peripheral vision. But no, it was only a bludger, coming up the length of the field. The bludger didn`t really seem to have any sort of purpose to it, since it was passing most of the players by. It was getting awfully close to the stands, though.

But no, Harry realized abruptly, that bludger did have a target.

James Potter, currently yelling something back to Lily about how he was allowed to fly where he bloody pleased, was completely and utterly unaware of the bludger that would soon be crashing into his side and toppling him from his broom to the rigid ground below.

Harry didn`t even hesitate. It was what he had come to do.

He dove.

"Dad!"

The wind ripped the cry from his throat, muffling the dangerous truth.

Harry`s luck seemed to have abandoned him after that, though. The bludger hurled into the side of his head at top speed, pitching him from the broom and rocketing to the ground below. Right before Harry blacked out from the searing pain, he was able to register the sickening crunch of glass shattering against his chest.

**A/N:Thank you to everyone who has been following and reviewing on the story so far, I`m thrilled you all seem to like it! ********Chapter updates should get quicker once I`ve finished off Never Never and the edits of the Black Files. **


	3. Chapter 3

On the scale of Voldemort possessing him to a round of Dodge Dudley, the pounding in Harry`s head came in just about halfway between the two. Blinking through the cloud of pain, Harry opened his eyes to once again discover he had slept in a place that was not his room, but at least this time he was on a bed.

Red hair flashed in Harry`s fuzzy peripheral vision, and someone touched the side of his head gently.

"Mrs. Weasley?"

There was a shuffle as the girl jolted back in surprise. "Oh, you`re awake!"

"Ginny?" Harry tried to sit up, but the explosion in his head protested. "Where am I?"

"Shhh. Don`t get yourself worked up, Harry, everything`s okay. The others are over talking with Madame Pomfrey, but she said you`re going to be alright. You`ve had quite a day."

He rubbed his eyes. The Department of Mysteries had seemed so long ago now, but mere hours had passed since Sirius had died, Voldemort had possessed him, and Dumbledore had finally told him the truth of his fate. "I had the strangest dream that I went back in time to save everyone…"

"Well, that sounds brilliantly heroic, but you`re back in 1976 now."

"What?" Harry shot up, triggering another rocket of pain to flare down his body. Sitting on the edge of his bed, Lily Evans smiled kindly and put a concerned hand on his shoulder to keep him from causing any further damage by sitting up too fast.

"You`re lucky the bludger only clipped you, but you still took a pretty nasty fall." Lily`s eyes sharpened a bit, and she reached out a hand to touch his scar. "Oh Harry, what`s this? It couldn`t be from the bludger…"

Harry jolted back, paying the price in throbbing agony. "Nothing. Just an old scar. How do you know my name?"

"Mattie said it when we were bringing you in, she`s over with Madame Pomfrey and the others right now, helping mix some sort of pain-soothing remedy. I`m Lily, by the way. Lily Evans."

From the other side of the room, Harry heard a clamor of cheering, and Madame Pomfrey hustled over, followed by a parade of riotous Gryffindors.

"Good, you`re awake." The somber healer said, as Harry marveled at the absence of wrinkles. "Drink this."

"He`s not dead!"

"Ha, you owe me ten sickles!"

Harry downed the smoking potion he was handed, glad for an excuse not to have to address the crowd for a while, and Madame Pomfrey seemed too busy with something in her office to shoo them away.

"We were going to write your parents, but nobody knew who you were." Remus said, standing next to Lily, who had gotten off the bed. "Are you a transfer student or something? What`s your last name?"

Panicked, Harry wracked his brain. James would know they weren`t cousins, he wasn`t that thick…A second before Longbottom could come out of his mouth, Harry`s eyes locked with a guy with the same kind smile and mop of hair as Neville.

Right before he could give up, however, a phrase wandered into Harry`s head from the very back of his memory.

_Me dad's a muggle; Mam's a witch. Bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out._

Perfect.

"Finnigan. Harry Finnigan."

The doors to the hospital wing burst open, and Harry recognized the voices before he could even see the oncoming group of boys over the shoulders of the gathered mob.

"I hope that guy`s okay, he`s the best seeker I've seen in years. Although it did seem a little too good to be true…"

"I`m gonna kill Bell if that little git got any blood on my uniform." Sirius commented as they came into view, Harry`s conscious jolting at the sight of his younger godfather, whose good looks and bad boy attitude not yet hardened by twelve years in Azkaban, or, eventually, blasted into a veil…

But nobody was really paying much attention to Harry`s gaping at the men who were previously both doomed, because there was a very angry and very protective (and guilty) redhead busy chewing out the oncoming Marauders. Well, at least one of them, anyway.

"James Potter, you arrogant twat, stop making this about you! You`ve caused this poor guy to take a bludger to the head!"

Reddening, James could think of nothing better to reply with than "It`s not like I asked him to!"

"'Didn`t ask him to'… you`re such a conceded arse! He saved your bloody neck and is lying wounded in bed, barely able to move, right in front of you, and all you`ve got to say is that you didn`t ask him to."

Even though he knew it was probably normal of them to spontaneously break out into rows, Harry felt guilty about causing his parents to fight. "Honestly, it`s not that bad. I`ve regrown all the bones in my arm once, so this is nothing."

Mattie, Neville`s dad, and some of the other gathered quiddich players that Harry didn`t know the names of nodded in sort of empathetic comradery. Quiddich wasn`t a game for people who couldn`t handle at least a few bruises. Harry looked to his father for a sign of the same knowing respect, but was met with a begrudging glaze instead that chilled him to the core.

"Do you want us to write your parents, Harry, and tell them what happened?" Lily asked, still near to his side. The closer she got, the more James` eyes sharpened.

Well, there was no doubt Harry`s parents didn`t already know what happened, not that he could tell them that. "Er…they`re dead."

A hush fell over the group.

"Oh, Harry…" Lily squeezed his arm compassionately. "Who do you live with?"

"My aunt and uncle, but they wouldn`t mind I've been hurt, it would give them a good laugh if anything." Harry pushed himself fully upright, attempting to get out of the bed. All this pity was making him uncomfortable, even more so than mention of his past usually spurred, due to the unwavering resentful blast coming from James` direction.

Another chorus of pity emitted from the gathered crowd. Lily looked even more guilt-laden than before, which was not helping things for Harry.

Leaning over to Sirius, James whispered something typical of Draco Malfoy, just as Madame Pomfrey emerged again from her office, only just noticing the huddled mass around her patient.

"Out! All of you, out, you`re upsetting the poor boy." She demanded, much to Harry`s relief. "Everyone, come on, clear out!"

As she was leaving, his mother turned and gave a small wave, which Harry happily reciprocated. James caught his eye though, and Harry once again felt his heart sink.

Once Madame Pomfrey had closed the doors firmly behind them, she returned to Harry, inspecting his head carefully. "Quite a bump you`ve got here. What did you say your name was?"

"Harry Finnigan."

"Well, Mr. Finnigan, it was lucky your friends brought you straight to me. You haven`t broken anything, and that potion should help with healing those bruises and decrease any possible concussion you may have." She fixed his covers, and Harry noticed for the first time a bandage on his chest, peeking out from under Sirius` Quiddich robes. "I put some herbs on that cut on your chest, now that was a nasty wound. It was a miracle I managed to get all those shards of glass out. That necklace you landed on, or what`s left of it, is in the bowl on the nightstand, I didn`t know if you still wanted it."

Harry picked up the bowl, looking sadly at the bits of bloodstained metal and glass littering the porcelain. The chain was snapped, and the circles bent, reflecting a warped version of him in the remaining red and gold.

It had been in this very wing Harry had learned the secret of that tiny timepiece, the first time he`d used it to save Sirius. Now, it had been destroyed on a much bigger quest to ultimately save the same man.

The last time turner.

Hermione was going to kill him.

That is, if she ever saw him again. If Harry had been worried about getting back before, that was noting to the hopeless confusion he felt now, like a turtle on its back.

Harry`s moment of crisis was lost on Madame Pomfrey, who was still bustling about, and had replaced the bowl back on the nightstand. "I`m going to have to ask you some questions to make sure you haven't got a concussion, alright, Mr. Finnigan?"

"Sure." He replied, still off in a daze of existential worry.

"What`s your house?"

"Gryffindor."

"The headmaster?"

"Dumbledore."

"The year?"

Absentmindedly, Harry said, "Nineteen ninety-six."

Pomfrey stopped cleaning the blood from the bowl to cast a concerned look. "Ninety-six? Perhaps I should have you stay overnight…"

"Sorry, that just slipped out, I meant seventy-six." Harry said quickly, covering his panic with a fake grin. "Can I go back to my dorm room to rest now? It`s been a long day, and I`d prefer to spend the night in my own bed."

Still a tad wary, she reluctantly conceded. "I suppose. Don`t get up to anything strenuous for the next few days, and don`t even think about getting back on a broom for at least a week."

Ignoring the increased pounding in his skull, Harry swept out of the bed and made his way out of the hospital wing. The walls of Hogwarts had never seemed so foreign. The throbbing of his head was rhythmic, like a ticking clock, as if to mock his loss and underline the dilemma. Time was most certainly not on his side.

Within minutes of dizzy wandering, he was hopelessly lost. Things were not looking good. Harry slumped down on the steps of a staircase, hoping it wasn`t a moving one and the world would stop spinning soon.

His noble actions were something Harry had always prided himself in, but he began to wonder if this haphazardly thought out apparent sacrifice had been the best choice.

The war in his head made it impossible to think.

One thought was able to keep Harry upright, though, giving him the strength to lean against a wall instead of pain old collapsing: at least he could still save his parents and Sirius.

"Merlin, are you okay?"

For the second time that day, Harry found himself looking up at the concerned face of Mattie Bell.

"Harry, what`s wrong? I thought you were in the hospital wing?"

His hand went to the bandage at the base of his neck. Mattie sat down next to him, and inhaled sharply as she lifted the bandages slightly. "What was that from?"

Harry might have been concussed, but he was no fool. He knew better than to spout out the truth to every passerby. However, he needed someone's help, because clearly this was not going to work if he continued on alone in this state, without a plan or a time turner.

"I fell on the time turner."

She narrowed her eyes. "You were carrying around a time turner?"

"I`ve been carrying around a time turner since 1996."

"No way. How did you get so far back?"

Blinking, Harry tried to focus on his hands, but his headache just worsened.

"Hold on," Mattie said, preforming an anti-engorgement charm. "Better?"

He took a deep breath. The pounding subsided. "A bit."

"Alright, Mr. Time Traveling Seeker. Are you going to tell me why you went back twenty years to try out for sports and stumble around the halls? I promise I won`t blow your cover."

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "You were the one who conned me into trying out."

"Fair enough, but that's beside the point."

"Dumbledore." Harry said finally. "I need to talk to Dumbledore."

"Fine." She sighed, helping him to his feet. "Swear you`ll let me in on your futuristic M.O. later then, okay?"

If Dumbledore didn`t send him straight back home to 1996, it would be helpful to have someone Harry`s parents and Lily knew to convince them that they were in danger and had to listen to him. "Deal."


	4. Chapter 4

"What about the 1977 Quiddich World Cup?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No."

"I bet you don`t even know." Mattie retorted smugly.

"Your betting is exactly why I`m not telling you. What if it alters the future when you make a load of galleons off what I tell you and bankrupt the Ministry or something?"

It was her turn to cast a skeptical glance. "That's not even remotely realistic. Come on; at least tell me who the Minister of Magic is in your time!"

The trek to the headmaster`s office had never seemed so long.

"Do you want me to endanger my own existence?"

"Fine." She sighed, exasperated. "Can you at least tell me your mission now, since Dumbledore might send you back before we get the chance to talk later?"

"He won`t send me back, I haven`t fixed what I came for yet."

Sensing a chance to get Harry to spill, Mattie raised an eyebrow. "You really think Dumbledore is going to let you keep running around once he finds out who you are? Once you`ve convinced him, he`s just going to send you right back, because otherwise you might offset the Space-Time Continuum and wipe out your own existence, like you were so politely accusing me of earlier."

"The Space-Time Continuum?"

"You know, like with the butterfly effect and minor effects changing the course of history and all that?"

It did seem like something Dumbledore would be worried about. This trigger made Harry recall how Dumbledore had been constantly eluding him over the past few months, from not including Harry in the Order over the summer and having him followed to how he`d kept the prophesy that had led to the death of Harry`s parents a secret from him until after the death of Sirius. If Harry had only known about the prophesy, if Dumbledore hadn`t been 'trying to protect him for the greater good', his godfather might still be alive and well in 1996.

Harry wavered. "Do you think Dumbledore would let me rescue my parents?"

"I think Dumbledore will do what he thinks is best in the long run for the preservation of the future society. Whether that is letting you save your parents or not, it`s hard to know for sure. Dumbledore`s great, but when it comes to saving the people you love… all I know for sure is, if I went back twenty years to save my mom and landed in your position, I wouldn`t trust those odds enough to bet her life on it."

The Hero Complex in Harry was agreeing with Mattie, even though in his heart, despite the past year (or, the future year), he still trusted in Dumbledore. In the end though, the heroism and grief won. "Alright. But if I stay, Dumbledore will figure out I`m not a student pretty quick, since he probably has every student`s name memorized, and I`m not supposed to be on the attendance sheets for another fifteen years."

A large grin sprouted on Mattie`s face; apparently dealing with these sort of problems was one of the things she did best. "Oh, you don`t need to worry about any of that. Just leave the talking to me."

Instead of turning right to where Harry now clearly knew the Headmaster`s office had sat back in 1996 (but was back really the politically correct term…?), Mattie abruptly started off in the opposite direction, down where the Transfiguration classroom laid. Dumbledore wasn`t a Transfiguration teacher during the time of Lily and James, of that much Harry was certain. So clearly, Mattie was about to do some pretty drastic improvising.

Unfortunately, the already altered plan was about to get another monkey wrench thrown into it, in the form of a cackling ghost bearing chalkboard erasers.

"Who`s Mad Ol` Maddy got with her today? Given up on that dog, have you now?" Peeves cried as Harry and Mattie coughed the cloud of chalk dust out of their lungs.

"Piss off, poltergeist. That`s none of your business."

"Miss Bell!"

The three of them spun (overenthusiastically causing another dust storm, in Peeves` case) to meet the highly unamused stare of a (slightly more) youthful Minerva McGonagall.

After a moment of terrifying silence, Peeves could contain himself no longer. "Maddy`s got a cru…"

In one fluid motion, Mattie ripped her shoe off and hurled it at Peeves, who disappeared into the wall behind him just as it flew right where his nose had been moments before.

The professor pursed her lips, eyeing the scuff mark on the wall with a dour frown. "Where are you two off to so late in the evening, Potter? Surely you`re not just out for the ghost hunting."

"Actually Professor," Mattie said, subliminally reminding Harry to keep his mouth shut and follow her lead, "This is my cousin, Harry. His parents had to go into hiding pretty abruptly, and they sent him here to keep him out of danger, since You-Know-Who wouldn`t dare challenge Dumbledore. There wasn`t time enough to give notice to the school, and he`s only ever been homeschooled, so I wasn`t sure what house he`s supposed to stay with."

"Why is he wearing a Gryffindor Quiddich uniform?"

Mattie didn`t miss a beat. "Well, when he got here I was just about to go down to the tryouts anyway, so I figured what better way to integrate him into Hogwarts than to throw him headfirst into our traditions and culture…James called him the best seeker he`d ever seen."

Which wasn`t strictly true, but the paraphrasing went undetected. The suspicious pinch in Professor McGonagall's expression had been slowly loosening through Mattie `s little speech, and at the mention of James Potter`s seal of approval, Harry could have sworn there was a flash of a competitive spark in her eyes, as if the thought of winning the cup had alighted something inside her. Something about this prompted Harry to recall his first year, when there had been the same frighteningly determined air about the professor as she took him to meet Wood.

"Well then, Mr. Finnigan, I believe it is due time for you to meet Professor Dumbledore and see if you will indeed have a place here." As the teacher turned to lead them back towards the headmaster`s office, Mattie gave Harry a sly thumbs up behind her back.

The climb to Dumbledore`s office was almost entirely silent, apart from the creaks in the old castle and swish of Professor McGonagall`s cloak as she strode. Once they finally reached the Gargoyle, McGonagall muttered a swift "Honeycomb Hokum", and Harry feigned shock as the spiral staircase appeared, channeling all of the amazement from seeing his parents, Sirius, and the younger McGonagall into the attempt. This was obviously not Mattie`s first time in the office either, but she had no need to suppress her indifferent and expecting air.

When they reached the top, the trio wavered at the door. Voices too hushed for Harry to make out were deep in discussion, but stopped abruptly at the sound of Professor McGonagall`s knock.

"Come in."

If Harry had been expecting Dumbledore to be as lacking of the familiar grey hair and wrinkles as Professor McGonagall, he would have been gravely disappointed. Although less-weathered than the current (1996, that is) Dumbledore, the old headmaster looked the same as ever, as if he had been carved in stone that way ages ago.

"Hey Flawkesy." Mattie stroked the phoenix`s sunshine wings. "Miss me?"

"I was beginning to fear you`d decided to finally start obeying the pre-established rules and notions this school was based on, Miss Bell." Behind the half-moon glasses, Dumbledore`s eyes twinkled, then turned to Harry. "Who is your friend?"

For the first time, Harry cursed the genetic similarities that linked him so closely to his parents. Dumbledore was the smartest man Harry knew, and if anyone could unravel Harry`s cover with a single glance, it was him.

The shiny silver instruments caught Harry`s eye, and he could still feel the rage, the betrayal, the grief that had torn through him as they were decimated in 1996. Dumbledore had no problem keeping secrets from him….

Before Mattie or Professor McGonagall could react, Harry made his choice. "I`m Harry, Harry Finnigan, Sir. I`m Mattie`s cousin. I was homeschooled, but now that my parents are on the run from V…He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named; they were hoping I could stay at Hogwarts for a while with my cousin to keep me out of danger."

For one terrible moment, Dumbledore`s eyes seemed to be seeing straight into his mind, and maybe he was. After all, as Harry had learned in his lessons with Snape, it was quite easy for experienced wizards to dip into the minds of others. Harry had never been able to use occlumency well enough to prevent Snape or Voldemort from entering his thoughts (now was not the time to dwell on those memories and repercussions, though), but maybe, just maybe, he could focus on only letting Dumbledore see what would convince him Harry was telling the truth.

First, Harry saw himself in Surrey, at the park by the Dursleys. Alone, worried about the brewing war, mad at his friends for not telling him what was going on. He wanted the summer to end, to go to Hogwarts. Harry had enough worrying and waiting for the older wizards to make the calls that would determine his safety and future. Then, Harry recalled earlier that day, when he`d been walking down to the pitch, the hope his parents would be okay mingling with the surprise at seeing this Hogwarts for the very first time.

At last, Dumbledore smiled welcomingly. "Hogwarts will always be a safe home for those who need it most, Mr. Finnigan. How long do you think you`ll be staying?"

"I`m not quite sure, Sir."

"Well, as long as you`re here for the foreseeable future, I suppose you ought to be sorted into a house as so that Mr. Black can get his uniform back." As the two professors crossed the room to where the Sorting Hat sat, Mattie gave him a thumbs up behind their backs. "Come here, Harry."

Standing in the middle of the office, Harry couldn`t help but feel foolish as the tatty hat was lowered over his eyes. Like Dumbledore, the hat was still very much the same, but wasn`t quite as big as when he`d worn it in first year.

"What`s this?" A voice spoke into his ear, as if Harry was an extra portion of chocolate. "I`ve never sorted through your thoughts before, and yet I`ve already determined you, haven`t I?"

_Please. Don`t tell them, not even Dumbledore. I`m from the future._

"I can see that! What an adventure you`ve had. Come to save the ones you love, at whatever cost to yourself? Terribly brave, completely reckless, quite ambitious, and a little stupid too. I stick to my predetermined decision. Just remember to be careful meddling around in time, because it`s all the little experiences in people`s lives -good and bad- that enforces who they are."

_Not all bad things have to happen, though. Not this time._

The Sorting Hat chuckled before replying, "I think this time, you`re much more of a GRYFFINDOR!"

Applause exploded around him, and as the hat was lifted off his head, Harry saw Mattie going mental as Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall clapped politely.

"Yes! The cup`s as good as ours! Potter`s gonna be so pumped." Coming over to clap him on the back, Mattie was grinning fiercely. "Didn`t I say you were a saving grace?"

"There is the small matter, however, of where Mr. Finnigan is to sleep. All of the Gryffindor boy`s dorms are full for the year, and I can`t imagine it would be suitable for him to sleep in with the girls." Professor McGonagall stated, obviously holding back her Quiddich-centric excitement.

Harry could practically see the gears turning in Mattie`s brain as she calculated an angle of persuasion. "Since he`s my cousin, I don`t want him sleeping on a couch in the common room or somewhere like that. He can have the window seat in my room, or we can even transfigure an extra bed."

"I should think not!" McGonagall huffed. "The very integrity and tradition…"

"…I think, Minerva, that there might just be an available space for Harry after all." Dumbledore said quietly, walking over to the window to gaze out at the grounds. "Has Remus Lupin already departed to visit his mother?"

"Yes, about an hour ago."

"Excellent. Then Harry will have his bed for the night, and a more permanent room situation will be arranged for him in the morning. Miss Bell, would you mind introducing your cousin to his new roommates?"

"Not at all. Thank you, Professor!" Harry`s arm was dangerously close to coming out of its socket as Mattie led him out of the office.

As the door clicked shut behind the two Gryffindors, Minerva McGonagall turned to her college. "Are you certain putting Harry in with those particular boys was the best idea? Potter and Black might not be the best company for a new student."

"Nonsense, I`m sure Harry can survive one night unscathed. After all, Frank Longbottom, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew have been living with them for years, and they are all still relatively sane."

* * *

"…And one more thing, if any of them toss around the phrase 'fresh meat', don`t worry about it. That`s just Frank`s way of saying hello to people who come in the room."

It was incredibly lucky for Harry to have happened to get here at Lupin`s time of the month, that`s for sure. This would give him the perfect chance to warn his dad…

As if sensing Harry was thinking about his mission, Mattie prompted, "So what exactly are you trying to save your parents from? Or wait, let me guess- you can`t tell me."

"Yeah, sorry about that, but it`s the sort of thing that would probably completely alter history if too many people found out about." Harry said, remembering the prophesy that had, after reaching the wrong ears, ultimately lead to the death of Lily and James.

But naturally, she wasn`t giving up that easily. "So you`ve come to save your parents, huh? Tell me, who does James Potter eventually end up with?"

"How…I never mentioned who my father was!" Harry gawked. Could she read minds? If only someone had properly taught him occlumency…

"Ha, you did now!" teased Mattie. "It was just a hunch, since you two look like long-lost brothers… but come on, who`s your mum? I swear I won`t place any future bets on the information you tell me about this."

"No way. You know too much already."

"Is it Alice? No, they`re cousins….well, when has that ever mattered in pureblood culture… what about Anna?"

Harry shook his head firmly.

"Marlene?"

"No."

"You`ve got glasses…Mary?"

"No."

"Viola?"

"No."

"Sirius?"

He didn`t even try to hold back his laughter. "Sure."

"You know Sirius then, in the future?" Mattie said brightly. "What`s he like, still a mad flirt?"

Was there much to flirt with, beyond the veil? The expectant look in her eyes made Harry unable to dwell in grief very long, out of fear his face would betray the conflict underneath. "He`s popped into the Gryffindor common room fire quite a few times to talk to me... and threaten one of my teachers, once."

"Like I said, mad, but you just can`t help love him. Like a stray dog." Mattie shook her head, deep in thought about the Sirius of present and future. The way she compared Sirius to a dog non-ironically clearly meant she didn`t know the hidden talents of her classmates, and was probably oblivious to Remus` furry little problem too, Harry noted.

While Harry was busy deducting, Mattie had been studying his face, and had recognized something about the way he looked while deep in thought that suddenly made everything click into place.

"No bloody way. She would never…no way… Merlin, that`s who your mum is? Bloody hell Potter, you`re the most incredible anomaly I`ve ever met." At this point, it was unclear whether she was talking to Harry, the absent James, or just mumbling to herself. "I knew it! I knew it before you were born!"

"No you didn`t."

Mattie smirked. "Well, you`re not born yet, are you? Lily Evans, you sly…"

"Shh! You can`t tell anyone, you swore, remember?"

Sighing, she shook her head wistfully. "The galleons I could make on that, though. We could both retire early… especially since lately I thought she kind of had a thing for…"

Listening to the details of your mother`s love life is not one of the finer things in life. "Okay, okay, I get it, I`ve heard back in 1996 how improbable it was!"

"No, Future Boy, you don`t understand…" A frozen mask of fear had come over Mattie`s face. "Remember how Lily was at your side the whole time in the Hospital Wing?"

"Of course I do."

"…and how James was being a right prick to you after the accident?"

"…Er, I guess…"

Mattie let an exasperated his of air out, clamping her eyes shut. "Ughhh….Maybe you should have just told Dumbledore. Well, it`s too late for that anyway…"

"What are you talking about?!" Harry demanded. "Weren't you the one that said Dumbledore would just send me back so I wouldn`t upset the Time-Space Continuum?"

"First of all, it`s _Space-Time_ Continuum, and second, you`ve already royally mucked that up."

"How? It`s not like I prevented my parents from ever meeting or something."

"Troll`s blood." Mattie said to the Fat Lady, but wavered in the hall. "Harry, because Lily was distracting James, he almost got hit by a bludger. But James didn't get hit by the bludger- you did! So her guilt, manifested inside with her apparent hidden infatuation with James Potter`s features, _your_ features, is the tilting point for what appears to be a very large crush on a certain individual. Your dad isn`t the one she`s falling for anymore, and he even noticed the signs back in the hospital wing."

"Hold on a second, so what you`re saying is, I`ve accidentally made my mum fall for me instead of my dad?"

"Yep. I`ve been Lily`s roommate for six years now, I know those signs all too well." Something caught Mattie`s eye from over Harry`s shoulder, making her raise her eyebrows. "Speak of the devil…don`t look now, but here comes Papa Potter himself."

As if on cue, Harry froze as of the Gryffindor Quiddich Captain called out, "Oi, Bell!"


End file.
